Friendship, Listening, and Empathy: A Prayer GuideTwo Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian LifeSabbath Keeping FastingA Renewed SpiritualityNurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care in the Twenty-First CenturyThe Power of ListeningJoy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your CongregationPersonality Type in CongregationsPrayers of the Old TestamentPrayers of the New TestamentSabbathFriendingA Garden of Living Water: Stories of Self-Discovery and Spiritual GrowthDeath in Dunedin: A NovelDead Sea: A NovelDeadly Murmurs: A NovelBeating Burnout in CongregationsReaching Out in a Networked WorldEmbracing MidlifeAdvent DevotionalDraw Near: Lenten Devotional by Lynne Baab, illustrated by Dave Baab

Upside Down Christmas

Lynne Baab • Monday December 22 2014

Upside Down Christmas

The other day I posted some words focused on what I’ve learned about the incarnation from celebrating seven Advent/Christmas seasons in New Zealand. A few days before that, Dave came home from a doctor’s appointment bearing a Christmas newsletter from the doctor’s office. In it were the words to a New Zealand Christmas carol by Shirley Murray, one of New Zealand’s most prolific contemporary hymn writers. The words do such a great job capturing the flavor of Christmas in the southern hemisphere. When I was looking around online to be sure I had the right words to the hymn, I found a lot of mentions of the hymn in connection with Australia, and clearly the words fit pretty well for that setting. But I want you to know this carol originated here in New Zealand! And I recently received a message on Facebook from a man in Argentina who liked my recent post and wrote, "Someday it would be great to compile a blog/book of church calendar reflections/meditations from a Southern Hem perspective." Yes, indeed. Those of us in the Southern Hemisphere have to think about new (and exciting) connections between the physical world around us, and the incarnation of Jesus, who came to bring life to all people in all places.

Carol our Christmas, an upside-down Christmas:
snow is not falling and trees are not bare.
Carol the summer, and welcome the Christ Child,
warm in our sunshine and sweetness of air.

Sing of the gold and the green and the sparkle,
water and river and lure of the beach.
Sing in the happiness of open spaces,
sing a nativity summer can reach!

Shepherds and musterers* move over hillside,
finding, not angels, but sheep to be shorn;
Wise ones make journeys, whatever the season,
searching for signs of the truth to be born.

Rightside-up Christmas belongs to the universe,
made in the moment a woman gives birth;
Hope is the Jesus gift, love is the offering,
everywhere, anywhere, here on the earth.

(*musterers are ranch hands who round up livestock. The photo is my lovely husband, Dave, in Dunedin's Botanic Garden in December. If you'd like to receive email updates when I post on this blog, go to "subscribe" in the right hand column.)



Next post »« Previous post